Nigerian Naked Neck Local Chicken

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The basics:
The Nigerian naked-neck local chicken is the second commonest kind of fowl in Nigeria, comprising only 1.5% of the total population (with an estimated 190 000 000 domestic fowl in the country). They are slightly more common in the south of the country than the north.

So-called native or 'village' chickens are remarkable in that they can survive with minimal, or almost no management. They scavenge for all their food and produce eggs year-round. Hatchability for the eggs of the naked-neck local chicken is just over 54%. The native African chicken breeds tend to be more flavoursome but have tougher meat than introduced breeds and the eggs have bright yolks. They are more suited to slower West African stew and soup cooking techniques (where the meat of introduced breeds breaks down and falls off the bone). As a result the local breeds are still preferred over introduced breeds.

As it's name suggest the naked-neck local chicken is characterized by having no feathers at all on the head and neck. In other respects the birds look like the normal-feathered birds of Nigeria. Recent genetic evidence suggests that the naked-neck is the most ancient of Nigeria's common chicken breeds and that the loss of feathers on the neck is an adaptation to heat that allows these chickens to mature and breed earlier.

Like almost all the world's chickens, Africa's fowl are descended from the red junglefowl of the Indus valley. It seems that chickens first arrived in Africa about 1900 years ago. But there have been several waves of introduction. They first entered the continent via Egypt then Indian traders brought in the birds as did Arabic invaders and traders. As a result a large number of local or so-called 'Village' breeds have been developed based on the interbreeding of these successive waves of arrivals along with European chickens introduced in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the main these local or native chickens live autonomously on scraps, with each household owning a few chickens. Outside South Africa there has been almost no interest in native chickens until the 1980s and it's only with the use of molecular genetic and evolutionary techniques that the various chicken types have been sorted into groups that might be considered 'breeds'. As, in their own areas, the local chicken is simply called a 'chicken' this has meant that long and cumbersome names tend to be used to describe these chickens in the agricultural and scientific literature. As well as the naked-neck type, Nigeria also has the normal-feather and frizzle feathered types of village chicken. In terms of type the naked-neck local chicken is defined as 'NN'.

What else you should know:
Of all the indigenous breeds, the naked-neck type matures and breeds the earliest. This breed also gains weight the fastest. Though these positive attributes are offset by lower egg hatchability. There is currently considerable interest in this breed because of its disease resistance and heat tolerance.